Feb. 05, 2019
HARRISBURG – Following the governor’s budget address today in Harrisburg, Rep. Rob Kauffman (R-Franklin) issued this statement regarding the $34.15 billion plan:
“I was encouraged the governor did not suggest any broad-based taxes on Pennsylvania families as part of his proposal. After years of failed attempts, it appears he may recognize that tax increases are not something he will find support for in either the House or Senate.
“I was pleased he wants to continue to dedicate more funding to education – including workforce development through career and technical education – which will benefit our state and its students greatly. He recognized the need to continue our aggressive approach to improve roads, bridges and other infrastructure statewide, and for the first time in his proposals mentioned agriculture as an area in need of greater state support, especially our dairy farmers.
“The 2019-20 proposed spending number is 4.3 percent larger than the number enacted in the current year. That number is unrealistic. The amount of new spending and methods of paying for his ideas will certainly be sticking points. While the governor appears to want to borrow billions of dollars, raise the minimum wage and impose more taxes on the natural gas industry, I want to increase state revenues, train more workers for higher-paying jobs and work on attracting more businesses to the Commonwealth to grow our economy.
“Of course, today was simply the start of the budget process. In the coming weeks, we will be diving deeper into his proposal, looking for common ground and presenting our own vision for the state budget. As always, there will be a lot of back and forth and new ideas to explore before a final budget is agreed upon by the governor, House and Senate.”
Representative Rob Kauffman
89th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Tricia Lehman
717.772.9840
tlehman@pahousegop.com
RepKauffman.com